On May 18 and 19, the music and gaming worlds will merge and an unprecedented event will take place at Skate And Surf Festival. During the festival, GameChanger World, a new, innovative artist-powered mobile gaming platform company and presenter of the festival and some of its artists including members of Forever the Sickest Kids, Hopsin, T.Mills, We Came As Romans and Mayday Parade will showcase their games and offer fans a chance to compete for prizes.

On May 13, GameChanger World will release a free “Boardwalk” mobile app, which will reveal set times of performances, as well as a map of the festival grounds. Additional apps will be released through the GameChanger World platform throughout 2013. For the “Boardwalk” app and more information please visit: www.GameChangerWorld.com

Another facet of Skate And Surf Festival is “The Break Contest,” the official unsigned band competition and a staple of The Bamboozle. After several months with over 400 bands competing from the tri-state area, the finals were held on May 4 at Encore Event Center in Freehold, New Jersey (part of iPlay America’s entertainment complex) and Bears And Motorcycles from Long Island, New York emerged as the winner. The band won a coveted main stage performance slot at Skate And Surf Festival, as well as five thousand dollars in cash and prizes.

“The Break Contest” runners-up from the finals included first runner-up, LovElectric, second runner-up, The Warden & F.A.M.E. and other runners-up included Gifford's Lane, Madelae, The B-List, The Project, Soul Melodic, WhoWeAre, Time Will Tell, The New Royalty, Backyard Superheroes, and Small Town Scoundrels will also perform during the festival. Additionally, five of “The Break Contest” finalists, First To Friday, What About Planes, Broken Hinge, East of Insanity and Joy Ride were chosen as runners-up through an online Wild Card survey hosted by AbsolutePunk.net and they also earned a festival performance slot. For more information, please visit: www.TheBreakContest.com/

Skate And Surf Festival was recently relocated due to popular demand from The Plaza Green at iPlay America in Freehold, New Jersey to The Festival Grounds @ Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson, New Jersey. After an eight-year hiatus, Skate And Surf Festival returns on May 18-19 with an incredible lineup including Fall Out Boy who will headline on May 18 (Saturday) and A Day To Remember who will headline on May 19 (Sunday), as well as recently announced Mayday Parade as “The Bob’s Special Guest,” Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Timeflies, Lights, Streetlight Manifesto, Glassjaw, RX Bandits, Of Mice & Men, Andrew W.K., Bayside, Saves The Day, Breathe Carolina, T. Mills, Escape the Fate, Hopsin, and many more. For a complete list of performers, weekend schedule and information about tickets, please visit: www.SkateAndSurfFest.com.

Most of them are naive and the others know someone that runs the festival.

Who wins is basically determined by ticket sales at each level of the contest. If you meet the minimums, a requirement of moving to the next round, you end up making a couple thousand dollars for the festival. And then every year, some terrible band ends up knowing one of the judges and winning. It's really lame.

Who wins is basically determined by ticket sales at each level of the contest. If you meet the minimums, a requirement of moving to the next round, you end up making a couple thousand dollars for the festival. And then every year, some terrible band ends up knowing one of the judges and winning. It's really lame.

Basically. One year, my friends in band A were playing on Sunday in North Jersey. They sold their tickets out, put on a great set and blew the judges away. So I thought. Band B played South Jersey on Saturday and lost. B knew one of the judges at this show and was put on the bill. They sold no tickets since it was a last minute show. Guess what band won?

The band that won this year was really good! I am sorry to those that didnt win but come on don't be like this! What it shows is a lack of class. When you accuse bands of having influencing relationships its a pretty bold statement. I will be honest in my opinion that bears group was a level above all the rest of the acts that day. They had a unique sound and a very radio friendly hit. 95% of the bands that play that show sound the same. They all want to be the next All Time Low or whatever which is not the direction of music. Innovation is key and I saw a lot of that with this years winner. As for last years winner they were ok. But the level of talent at last years event wasnt nearly as good as this years. To those of you that didn't make it keep on plugging away and perhaps next time. Reinvent yourselves and stop the negative talk. If you thought it was rigged why bother entering it? Best of luck!

The band that won this year was really good! I am sorry to those that didnt win but come on don't be like this! What it shows is a lack of class. When you accuse bands of having influencing relationships its a pretty bold statement. I will be honest in my opinion that bears group was a level above all the rest of the acts that day. They had a unique sound and a very radio friendly hit. 95% of the bands that play that show sound the same. They all want to be the next All Time Low or whatever which is not the direction of music. Innovation is key and I saw a lot of that with this years winner. As for last years winner they were ok. But the level of talent at last years event wasnt nearly as good as this years. To those of you that didn't make it keep on plugging away and perhaps next time. Reinvent yourselves and stop the negative talk. If you thought it was rigged why bother entering it? Best of luck!